On March 15, another presentation of the so-called “International partnership against impunity for the use of chemical weapons” was held on the sidelines of the 87th session of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the initiative of France and its allies in the anti-Assad club in the Hague.

Let’s recall that that this quasi-non-proliferation regime was launched in Paris on January 23 by representatives of 24 states that present themselves as “friends of Syria” while supporting an armed opposition that is openly extremist and even terrorist in nature. The goal of the club is clear to many analysts – to remove the government of Bashar al-Assad by creating a critical mass of highly dubious and often falsified evidence of Damascus’ “alleged involvement” in the use of chemical weapons. It is also obvious that the founding documents of this partnership are aimed at the joint pushing of anti-Syrian sanctions in the UN Security Council and the OPCW based on the political commitments fixed in these documents.

We have repeatedly criticised the founders of this partnership out of principled consideration for their desire to promote it at respectable international venues such as the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva where an event similar to the Hague action took place on February 28. This time its main sponsors simply outdid themselves in cynicism by initiating an all but propaganda campaign in the OPCW, the specialised international organisation the authority and integrity of which they are undermining by this “project.” Almost all of the delegations from NATO and EU countries represented in the OPCW Executive Council and their supporters appealed to the hesitant countries to join the partnership without delay. Indicatively, none of them are even remotely embarrassed by the fact that the format they created undermines the fundamental provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

We again urge the states parties to the CWC to display political wisdom and responsibility and not associate themselves with politically motivated projects that are destructive to chemical disarmament and non-proliferation of chemical weapons.